U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

 

Date of this Version

January 2008

Comments

Published in National Sunflower Association Research Forum Papers 2008.
The annual NSA Research Forum is highly regarded as the premier conference at which private and public researchers present the results of their latest sunflower research. For a quarter of a century, the National Sunflower Association has produced the workshop as a forum for sunflower research to be shared with the public.
The 30th annual NSA Research Forum, held in January 2008, was another successful event where researchers from around the country came together to share their knowledge.
Online at http://www.sunflowernsa.com/research/default.asp?contentID=70

Abstract

For several decades, blackbird depredation of sunflower has been a continuous problem. Sunflower growers consistently place blackbirds in the top tier of problems associated with growing sunflower in the northern Great Plains. Many non-lethal tactics have been employed in an attempt to protect ripening sunflower from foraging flocks of blackbirds. Thinning cattail-choked wetlands to reduce roosting habitat, using pyrotechniques to frighten feeding birds, planting Wildlife Conservation Sunflower Plots to lure birds away from commercial plots, applying taste repellents, and adapting cultural methods such as block planting to synchronize ripening are just a few such tactics. Even so, the numbers of blackbirds migrating through the northern Great Plains can overwhelm non-lethal techniques. That is, in some circumstances there are too many blackbirds for non-lethal techniques to be effective.

One avicide, DRC-1339, is registered for use as a lethal bait in the U.S. and North Dakota. The avicide is usually mixed with brown rice at a ratio of 1:25 (treated rice kernel to untreated rice kernels). Normally, the rice mixture is broadcast on the ground in the ripening or sprouting crop. Non-blackbirds are plentiful in ripening sunflower fields, causing a potential risk to these species with the use of DRC-1339. These granivorous non-blackbirds might eat treated rice, causing an unintentional loss. A number of species of songbirds and sparrows could be at risk. Also, ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) and mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) are species of high concern. One potential method of avoiding non-blackbirds is to put live decoys (blackbirds) in cages in areas devoid of habitat to attract free-living blackbirds to bait trays attached to the top of the decoy cages. The intent is to reduce large concentrations of blackbirds that cannot be otherwise dispersed by non-lethal means. The objective of this study is to identify and quantify the avian species visiting the bait trays. Our goal is to develop an effective and environmentally-safe method for managing locally abundant blackbird populations.

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